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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Jacob Houk was my paternal gr grandfather:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>By Florense Courtny Melton. 1926</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=+1> [<FONT color=#009900>Jacob</FONT>]
Houk was a prisoner thirteen months lacking two days. He was in Salsbury
two months. Then he was taken to <A
href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER1269.html"
target=_blank>Libby Prison</A> and was kept there five months. Then he was
taken to <A href="http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/andearch.htm"
target=_blank>Andersonville</A> stockade and was there six month lacking two
days. He was carried out to the operating table three times to have his
leg amputated. A quarrel among the surgeons saved him his leg. He
lost one toe. The treatment the soldiers endured was terrible to think of.
It took a Prussian officer, <A
href="http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wirz/wirz.htm"
target=_blank>Captain [Henry] Wirtz</A>, to devise such fiendish rules. At
first several thousand men were penned up on fifteen acres. A stream ran
through it. Part of it was clear, but part was muddy. They had to
use the muddy part. Guards were stationed on the top of the stockade to
shoot anyone who was seen dipping the clear water. Houk said the sweetest
morsel of meat he ever tasted was a Norway rat, killed, cocked and eaten while
there. Another article of food they drew as a ration was a pint of buggy
peas. They would put them on in cold water. When the bugs would come
to the surface, they would skim them out, and cook the peas and eat them.</FONT>
<P><FONT size=+1>[<FONT color=#009900>Note: Many of the Union prisoners released
from Andersonville died aboard the</FONT> <A
href="http://www.rapidnet.com/~greg/Tom/" target=_blank>SULTANA</A><FONT
color=#009900> when it blew up on the Mississippi River at 2 A.M., April 27,
1865.</FONT>]</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=4>Cecil</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret.<BR>PO Box 530833<BR>San Diego CA
92153<BR>FAX 619-428-6434<BR><A
href="mailto:cchouk@cox.net">mailto:cchouk@cox.net</A><BR>ANDERSON - BLAKELY -
FORD - HOUK - KIMSEY - MOE - RULAFORD - SIMPSON<BR>Searchable GEDCOM: <A
href="http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk">http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk</A><BR>My
web page MENU: <A
href="http://members.cox.net/~cchouk/">http://members.cox.net/~cchouk/</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>